Heather's MS Diagnosis

I was a pretty healthy, never sick kid growing up.  I prided myself on never being sick.  I told everyone its because i eat lots of garlic.  I played softball in High School.  One game now stands out...it was a game during my senior year in 1992 i was running from 2nd to 3rd... i didn't have to slide... i was 10 feet from base and i fell...i had to crawl to the bag.  I am such a klutz (not normally but that is what i told myself)

in 2004/2005 - I woke up and the side of my face was numb.  no i didn't go to doctor.  i told myself i would go if it got worse...in the next few days it started getting better.  whew

later in 2005 i woke up to use restroom...i kept falling and and I had not control over my bladder.  I MUST JUST HAVE THE FLU is what i told my self

in 2008 my left arm went numb...What...am i having a heart attack...isn't that a sign?   you would think i would go to doctor....NOPE....let me see if it gets worse...it lasted a few days and went away....Oh must of been a pinched nerve....

Let me preface this by stating my family is full of doctors... but I HATE GOING TO DOCTORS!!!!  I only go when i absolutely HAVE to. I know I know - DUMB

Its 2009... I am fast tracking at work..I love what I do.. I love the Challenge I face everyday.  I love the interaction with my sales force, motivating them, guiding them, coaching them.  AWARDING them with Cars, trips, etc for THEIR hard work. I was good at what I did.  I had passion and drive for everything I did.  In 2009 that drive and passion started to go away.... I must be getting bored....I need a new challenge is what i told myself.  I love what I do, but it time to move on to other areas of the business.....or so i thought.

end of 2009 I was presented with an opportunity that should have been PERFECT for me.  Should have been a piece of cake and the necessary stepping stone I needed to advance to the job i really had my eye on.  EVERYONE including my self knew this was a gimme position,

What happened... i could not focus..,my attitude started to change... not only towards my job, but even in my personal life.  I didn't CARE... my attitude was OH WELL.  I was screwing up, not meeting deadlines.  In one breath i was MAD at myself and confused and in another i really didn't care.

Its now March 2010..I am at work and I feel something go into my eye, so i thought....it didn't really hurt...just annoying and I cant see.  so i pull at eyelashes hoping to release what is in there..nothing works.... I am sure it will come out this weekend.  Monday morning hits....I still cannot see and it's now irritated...whatever is in my eye must be embedded in my eye.  I need to get to eye doc.  I call and they cannot see me that day but are concerned that I cannot see and send me to a retina specialist.

doc sees me and says retina looks good...its a scratch on eye and I have dry eye.  he gave me drops to take and said i should be find in a few days.

Guess what i still cannot see.  My eye doc gets me in to see her. she runs every test she can.  "OK doc, how do we fix this", i say - she said,"I am sorry,  it cant be fixed, it looks to be vascular.  I need you to see your primary doc right away to run more tests to ensure it doesn't happen to other eye" WHAT!?!?!?!

I don't cry often, but i started balling.  What do you mean we cant fix it.  We didn't try anything....

My mind is racing.... I have not told anyone..I have not told my mom that i was even having an issue...WHAT AM I GONNA TELL HER?  HOW am i going to tell her?  She is flying down next week to visit...do i tell her now before she comes or tell her while she is here???!!???!!!

You know you have great friends when you are in a time of crisis.  My friend Rebecca offered to help me call my mom the next day to let hew know.  She doesn't realize how much that meant to me.

The next day comes...i am supposed to call mom and eye doc calls.  "there is a 5% chance this is an issue with your Optic Nerve and I want you to see a nuero opthamologist.  I have already called, explained your case and they are going to call you to come in"

YEAH!!!!  I really hope its my Optic Nerve...oh wait maybe i will have to have eye surgery to fix it? no mention of MS at this point

N.O. office calls me and has me come in stat.  just from phone call with my opthamologist she has a suspicion of what it was and if it was MS she didn't want me to wait any longer.

She examined my eye...look at optic never and said... I am 85% sure you have Optic Neuritis... I get a big smile...yes...its my optic nerve...i will see again are my thoughts.

she then proceeds to tell me about this disease call MS....as soon as those letters came out of her mouth i tuned her out and started thinking about muscular dystrophy.... i was sadly one of the uneducated about this disease.

she wanted me to have an emergency MRI to confirm.  She mentioned that people with ON elect to have IV steroids.  Elect?  its an option...you are asking me if i want to be stuck with needles or not?  i know my answer..NO WAY

My aunt came over and got me to drive me to MRI...The radiologist did a wet reading and within 2 hours...i was told i have have ON and have the lesions indicative of MS.  She wanted to get me started right away on Solumedral.  A UTI delayed my start.  They didn't want any infection in my system.  during delay i saw my PCP to get UTI cleared up and go in right away with the MS specialist she recommended to me.

He read my MRI and said it look to be MS.  However I am going to have you do all this blood work as there are other diseases like Lyme, Lupus, RA, EBV, and others that we need to rule out.  Blood work came back negative..UTI was cleared up and he proceeded with starting me on Steroids

He officially diagnosed me on

Please share your DX journey with us.  I will blog later on what has happened since the Diagnosis date.